Past Tragedy
by frankishe
Summary: A soldier is trapped in stasis and wakes up in 2183, he meets a commander who had faced down the same enemy as this 21 century soldier has. rated M for gore,violence, lanugage, and distrbing scenes
1. Chapter One: Blast from the past

Hey all, i played mass effect 3 and i dint mind the game so i decided to start a crossover, with what you may ask... halo of course(how unoriginal of me) anyway i hope you guys like it

for the love of god i dont own mass effect or halo thats biowares and bungie (i guess its 343 studios now)

===0===

Earth 2010 AD

I'm sure they went down here Sarge! Said a soldier "well all we got is a cave full of nothing but batshit, big ass cave though." another said "great, that's another cache of weapons those bastards were able to move" Sgt James Grayson said, irritated "who taught you how to track, Dakota" Grayson continued "Sargent, this cave isn't on any maps or the GPS." said a soldier with his map of the area on the hard stone floor.

"John get the base on the radio and tell them we're going to check out a unmapped cave." Grayson said "yes sir!" the man yelled. The squad moved out and began to map the cave. "this place is huge!" a private said amazed "yea, and artificial, there's no way nature carved this out." said another

a shuffling of feet was heard and the squad all raised their weapons and Grayson yelled "freeze!" Four glowing eyes opened and Grayson said "what the hell". Three more sets of eyes opened and Grayson said "steady men, they might just be animals." "yea, animals with four eyes... That glow" Dakota said "I'm a soldier not a zoo..." gunfire ripped into the squad as Grayson screamed "TAKE COVER!". They all got behind a boulder and said "private! Get on that radio and tell the base that we have heavy contact from an unknown enemy.".

Grayson grimaced as he felt blood run down his chest. "damn it, I'm hit in the chest, it's not bad but it hurts.". "give them hell!" a soldier yelled as his C-9 LMG opened up. The rest did likewise with their rifles as they popped out of cover making precision three round bursts with their C-7 assault rifles. "they got some sort of shield on them!" another soldier yelled

"Christ, I got this." Grayson said as he shouldered his sniper rifle. Flicking open his scope he centred in between the two middle eyes. The rifle roared and there was a flash as the shields of the creatures overloaded, followed by multiple metallic thumps as the other soldiers bullets found there target. Seconds later the firefight was over as Grayson destroyed the shields of the others and were taken down.

"you three, secure our exit, the rest of you come with me, we're clearing the caverns of these fuckers." Grayson said. The whine of electronics sounded out as the squad activated night vision. "what the fuck is that thing" said Dakota "it's not human, hell it might be an alien, we need to watch out, these bastards have some advanced weaponry and our flak vests are about as good as a sheet of paper." Grayson said

The squad started moving into a large open area as Grayson took point. "you must forgive the mechs... Not all who come in here are friendly." a voice came out from the darkness "and who are you" Grayson replied, relaxing slightly "before I reveal myself I must ask that your squad leave, that I am about to say must not be heard by anyone, for no one would believe me.".

"ok guys, go back to the entrance I'll be by shortly" Grayson said The squad left and James hung his rifle on his shoulder and said "so say what you need to say, I need to get back and get this wound looked at." Grayson said "indeed, however I must give you this, my race... As with every single race before it, has been destroyed by an extragalactic force of machines we know as the reapers." Said the mysterious figure. "race?" Grayson asked, starting to feel weak from his wound "yes, for I am not human..." the mysterious man said as Grayson gasped. "...I am the last of a race of people known as the Protheans.".

Grayson looked in awe at the now visible alien, pausing only to cough up blood. "...shit" "Then quickly, take my hand, I am not going to last long in this world." James reached out with his hand and was blown away by undecipherable images, thousands, maybe millions. But there was one that he could decipher. " the alien before him was known as the avatar of memory. "the past of your species is full of unspeakable atrocities and ruthless wars, for petty reasons, but the seeds of hope are found in your race, every previous race lacked one key attribute, unity, the ability to unite against a common foe.". A voice spoke in his mind The slurry of images faded and Grayson stumbled backwards into some sort of pod. "my time is at an end you must warn the races of this cycle of the danger of the reapers, it was too late for me, but you can change the fate of the galaxy!" the avatar said

"but how is one person supposed to do this." "that is for you to find out... Avatar." the alien said as he typed on a strange device on his wrist "farewell, my kind is at an end, it is now your turn..." he said as his body vaporized away.

"No!" James yelled as He stood up. "damn it" he said as he clutched his chest where his wound was. He slipped, falling back into the pod. The pod closed and James sighed "shit, earths saver, bleeding out in an alien pod." "Preparing stasis, engaging one time FTL jump, target: System 756 engaging stasis" a robotic voice said as James slipped into a controlled coma. The last thing he felt was the pod accelerating

Eden prime 2183 AD I don't get it, these readings are showing eezo residue, but why would they be any?" said a woman tapping away at her omni tool "well it could be eezo, kinda obvious isn't it." a man who was also typing on his omnitool "yeah but it's not in any large quantity or in it's solid form, it is as if a spaceship crashed hear, but there are no records of crashes here.". Said the woman "hmm I've got a seven by four metal object up ahead... Right there" the man said pointing to an object in a clearing. The two moved up and saw the pod. Call Dr warren... This is Prothean the man said.

The two examined the exterior and began wiping moss off of it. The metallic Gray box shone oddly at the top and the man looked at the spot. It was a window and when he looked in it he said "my god..."

One day later

Voices started to fade into James' mind "...coming around, what's his name?" a voice said "sergeant James Grayson, Canadian military." another voice said "James... James wake up." the first voice said James opened his eyes and was met by a bright light which was moved away immediately "ugh what happened, am I dead?" he asked

"no, we found you in some form of stasis." a man said "stasis... What year is it?" he said holding his head "2183, on the systems alliance colony of Eden prime, why?". "I've been out for one hundred and seventy three years?" he said as he sat up. "your equipment dates from that time so... Welcome to the twenty second century, sergeant".

"I guess I got to catch up on some things." James said "yes, gunnery chief would you bring him up to speed." James stood up and saw the woman "sergeant James Grayson, second regiment, royal Canadian rifles" he said offering his hand. "gunnery chief Ashley Williams, of the 212 alliance marines if you would follow... An explosion rocked the building as an alarm blared.

"what was that?" James said. A marine ran up the hall and yelled "were under attack!". "get the squad ready." Ashley yelled and turned to James. "you combat ready?". He cracked his neck and asked "where's the armoury". "other side of the city, we can escort you if you like.". The marine said. "no time wheres my gear." "right here." the doctor said, opening a locker. James smirked and threw on the digitally camouflaged pants.

He took off the hospital gown after and threw on his green undershirt. "what are we up against?" he asked as he buttoned up his shirt "from all accounts, the geth." the marine said "what, the geth?" Ashley said in shock.

"and who might they be?" James asked as he slammed a full magazine into his C-6 carbine. "their machines, you might want a weapon change." Ashley said "that's what this is for." James said grabbing his scoped M-14. He grabbed his stash of armour piercing ammunition and pocketed them. Lastly he grabbed his sig 226 and strapped it to his leg. He nodded to the marines and they jogged to the elevator. As They waited for the elevator James said "remind me to thank the doctor for patching me up.". "will do if we get out of this alive." Ashley said as they got in the elevator.

"Christ, you would figure elevators in the future would go at least as fast as their twenty first century counterparts." James said as he tapped his foot impatiently. "this isn't that bad actually" the marine said as the door opened. The marine ran out and his head nearly exploded. "sniper!"

James yelled as he took cover behind a pillar and shouldered his M-14. He quickly fired two shots. "clear. Makes it easy to see when they have flashlights for heads" he said as they moved out. "I'm surprised that, that old piece of shit can punch through their barriers." Ashley said . "their called 7.62 mm NATO armour piercing rounds, chief,before I left my base I stocked up." he said

"damn." was all she said "and... Don't call my rifle a piece of shit again." James said almost seriously

One hour later "

Ship perimeter secure commander." lieutenant Kadian Alenkio said "alright let's move out." Shepard said as she took point. "what the hell are those" Alenko exclaimed "gasbags, don't worry there harmless" corporal Jenkins said as they moved up. They passed some burned corpses and moved into a clearing.

A few hundred metres away.

"shit I lost Ash" James said, using the Nick name he had heard the other marines use when addressing her. "gotta find somewhere to hold up, my C-6 is useless and my M-14 is a bulky piece of shit." he said quietly to himself He turned a corner and was shocked when he found himself face to face with a geth destroyer.

"SHIT!" James yelled as he rolled out of the way of a burst of gunfire. He was too close to use the only useful weapon he had so he drew his knife while quickly unbuckling his webbing, letting it fall to the ground. He slashed out with the knife but the carbon steel blade could do nothing against the kinetic barriers of the destroyer.

The destroyer lunged and a robotic hand crushed his arm. James screamed in pain as he was slammed into the ground and was held down as the mech's gun was coldly shoved in his face. James closed his eyes as The gun fired but the grain sized projectiles hit a barrier of some sort. James' eyes snapped open as blue energy flowed out of him.

The barriers flashed and faded followed by chucks of armour melting away. James easily broke the weakened arm holding him down and stood up, blue energy flared from his good fist and he threw a savage right hook. A biotic field exploded from his fist and knocked the robots head clean off. "that'll learn ya." he said panting. "FUCK!" he yelled in agony as he gripped his shattered arm.

Shepard's pov

"FUCK!" a voice rang out from somewhere nearby and Shepard gave the silent sign to halt. She told quietly for Jenkins to take point. He moved up and was cut down by a hail of gunfire. "MOVE!" Shepard yelled as she took cover behind a boulder as Kadian did likewise. She peeked over the boulder and saw two drones hovering she placed her sniper rifle on the boulder and centred on the drone on the right.

She put her finger on the trigger but the drone exploded. A millisecond later the roar of a high calibre rifle was heard followed by another gunshot. "powder based weapons?" she thought to herself. "commander that was a..." Kadian started but Shepard cut him off saying "I know" she looked around and saw a glint on a nearby hill. She gave a gesture of thanks as she continued up the path she was on.

James' pov

James smiled to himself as he saw the gesture, then he slammed an adrenaline shot right in his chest to keep him going. He felt his heart rate skyrocket as the chemical did it's job. He sighed as the throbbing disappeared. He dropped into a pit and moved up a nearby ramp. Something caught his eye, and he moved to what looked like a crate. "what do we have here" he said, silently praying for a first aid kit. He tapped a button on the side and the crate opened up and he saw what looked like a part of a pistol. He grabbed it and to his great surprise and delight the object folded outward into a complete pistol.

"perhaps I can do some damage now." he thought "bad idea, I've got a broken arm and out of date equipment I gotta hide out, it looks like a team is in the area maybe I can get with those guys." he continued to think as he found an encampment on the upper slope of the pit. He heard a gut wrenching scream as he saw a blood covered spike launched into view. "

Jesus what kind of fucking machines are these?" he said quietly as he readied his new pistol. He crawled up so he could see and was horrified at what he saw. Spikes were erected with human bodies impaled on them, the sight jarred him away from reality

Earth 2006 AD

"corporal get up we've got a briefing in ten." a sergeant said. "a mission? I thought there was no convoys today sergeant." a twenty one year old Grayson asked. "we don't, we're getting some relaxing work for once, just a patrol, city hall to the school and back to base." he said helping Grayson up. "good, the IED's are getting annoying." Grayson said smiling. "and bullets aren't" his sergeant laughed It was bright and sunny, a perfect day in the panjwe district in Afghanistan.

Eden prime 2183 AD

Grayson forced himself back to reality, but the flashback had taken it's toll, he panted for breath, tears ran down his eyes, and aches had started to form in his muscles. "oh god... Not that." he sobbed quietly, just in time to feel the barrel of a gun poke him in the back. "Hey you ok." a voice sounded behind him "fanfuckingtastic Ash, thanks for asking."he said as he stood up. "oh god... Your arm.".

"I tried to knife fight one of the big fuckers... It was most unwise." he said gesturing to his arm. "you should be in shock or worse! She yelled. He took out the adrenaline injector and said "never leave home without it." he said "Williams, who is this" the woman he had seen in his scope said. "sergeant James Grayson, he's from the..." ash started "the past, I know." the woman finished. She turned to him and said "commander Erin Shepard, XO of the SSV Normandy." offering her hand. He saluted sharply "mamn". "can you move?" Shepard asked "I moved from the hill where you saw me on to here didn't I" he said smirking "that was you who made that shot? With that arm?" she said "yeah, not bad right?" he said to her.

"it was okay" she said but she knew that a shot like that was nigh impossible. He looked ahead and saw that the spikes had retracted and these blue coloured... Things were milling about them. "the...fuck?" he said as the zombie like husks of what were once people noticed them. A flash of memory flickered in his mind, not his, but that of a long dead race.

"they didn't deserve this." he said as he saw in his mind the images of the husks of the last cycle, slaughtering the Protheans. Reasoning was useless, as they had no mind of their own. He raised his pistol and fired, blowing the head clean off of the closest one. The other three opened up with their assault rifles, mowing down the remaining husks.

"what the hell!" ash said as they examined the husks. "looks like some parts of the body are just circuitry, no organic tissue." Kadian said. "I got a locked door I think" James said looking at a red panel beside a door. "I've got it, stack up and stay ready." Shepard said. A holographic glove of sorts appeared around her hand and James cocked an eyebrow. "that's an omnitool, it's like..." Kadian started but was interrupted by Shepard who said "it's a versatile hand held computer, built for any situation." as she typed away on the omnitool. "and done" she said as the door hissed open and the squad moved in.

"hey doctor..." James said, glad that she was ok but was interrupted by a strength enhanced elbow to the back sending him into the floor. "for the second time today... The fuck" "thank her." ash said "I was! In case you forgot my arm is broken!" James yelled "sorry" ash said glumly " it's ok, just a side effect of the adrenaline.

"sergeant, I was going to tell you this before but l had no time, your a biotic, our scans proved it." Dr warren said "a what now?" "we don't have time for explanations we need to get to the beacon." Shepard said "it wasn't at the dig site" Kadian added. James picked himself up and noticed he had landed on another person, knocking him out. "uhh sorry?" James said "it's ok he needs his medicine anyway. As for the beacon, it's at the space port" Dr warren said. "thank you doctor" Shepard said as she left.

James left, taking in the planet, the constant gunfire had died down and he could hear birds singing, all of this was brought to an abrupt end when a gunshot roared out from somewhere nearby.". "my god, look at the size of that ship." ash said as a unimaginably large squid like ship. In an instant he felt a feeling of extreme terror which only passed when the ship did.

Then all hell broke loose, the air was alive with pulse rifle rounds and the moan of husks wafted though the air. "shit!" Shepard yelled as a round grazed her pale skin. A husk grabbed James but was calmly dealt with via a pistol shot to the head. He pistol wipped another husk to stun it, then threw the pistol in the air, drawing his knife in the same motion and finished it off by sending the knife straight into the eye socket of the husk. He caught the gun and Kaiden said " Quite the showoff isn't he?". "should of seen him back at the colony when he had the use of both arms" ash replied.

"look at Shepard, she's kicking all sorts of ass." James said they looked and saw rounds from her rifle hit a canister and detonate in a red fireball, killing the remaining geth. "damn..." James said "must be spec ops whatever their called now" he thought to himself "let's move." Shepard said as she wiped the blood from her cheek. The space port was much like any port from his time, with crates scattered around neatly. "commander... It's Nihlis". Kadian said pointing at a corpse on the ground. "what the hell is that" James said, staring at the dead alien. "that's a turian we were working with, he was scouting ahead for us." radian said "aliens too eh? Blue blood and all" James said kneeling over the corpse

"he was shot in the back of the head, looks like he was either caught off guard or he was executed, judging by the fact that he has all his weapons I'd lean towards the first." James continued A shuffle of movement was heard and James pointed his pistol at a nearby pile of crates. "come out slowly." he said,

"d-don't shoot I'm one of you I'm human!" a man said holding his hands up. "be more careful next time, you almost got your ass shot off" James said "look I saw what happened over there, there was another Turian, Saren I think his name was. Your friend seemed to let his guard down... Then Saren shot him." he said horrified "the captain needs to hear this." Kadian said looking at Shepard. "how did you survive the attack? Shepard asked "well... I sometimes get tired during the shift and I sneak forty winks when the foreman isn't looking." he said nervously "you survived because your lazy?" Ash said disgusted. Shepard chuckled and said "that probably saved your life, anyway we were looking for a Prothean beacon, do you know where it is?". " yeah, it's on the other side of the space port, take the cargo train, that's where Saren went. "I gotta get away from all of this..." the man said as he walked away.

They reached the cargo train, disposing of the few geth left to guard it. After taking out a geth destroyer Shepard typed on a holographic keyboard and the train began moving. James took this time to check out his pistol. He pressed the clip release to check how much ammo he had and a block of metal slid out, he could just make out a few slivers of metal gone. "an almost unlimited amount of ammo, more advanced than I suspected." he thought out loud. He reloaded his pistol and continued to examine it. He could make out vents on the side and assumed they were for cooling.".

The train reached it's destination and they disembarked. A few rounds whizzed by and the geth were quickly disposed of.". A large device was on the ground beeping. "beeping... That can't be good" James said as Shepard went to work with her omni tool. The beeping soon stopped and James said. "I assume the didn't just plant one." they moved across a bridge. A thump resounded throughout his body. "SHIT!" James yelled as he felt a jolt if pain shoot up his leg. The adrenaline wasn't enough and he fell to the ground roughly.

"I'M HIT!" he yelled over the din of gunfire. Shepard immediately looked and ran over to his writhing body. She picked him up roughly and dragged him to cover, leaving a trail of crimson blood. She crouched over him typing on her omni tool again. "don't worry about me, defuse the damn bombs!". "one of my objectives is to ensure your survival sergeant, now I'm going to give you some medigel, it'll keep you moving but it might take a bit considering your wounds." she held the circular segment of the device over his leg and the hologram pulsed, shooting a glittering liquid into his wound. The bleeding ebbed then stopped, and the pain disappeared. "impressive... A first aid kit all in one convenient gel" James said as he propped himself up against a crate.

"could be worse... Eh who am I kidding, it is worse. I'm in the future with half my leg blown off, and a broken arm, yep about as bad as you can get." he said as he awkwardly slammed another clip into his rifle and cocked the bolt. "you could be getting your ass blown off in panjwe." Shepard said with a hint of amusement in her voice. "how do you..." James started but Shepard said "I'm a commander, knowing old battles and the strategies they used is something I learned in AOTS." she said as she fired a shot from her own rifle. James painfully pulled himself up and looked through the scope of his rifle, which he had braced on a crate.

He saw that Kadian had disarmed all but one of the bombs and they were working towards the last one. "looks like the've got almost all of the bombs." he said as he fired a flurry of rounds into the shields of another geth destroyer. He reloaded and kept firing but the shields took them in stride. "fucking hell, I gotta use these." he said as he removed the clip and grabbed a modified clip from a pouch.

"I spent a fortune..." he said as he hefted the heavy clip "... And broke several rules regarding specialized ammunition... He said as he slammed the massive clip into the guns housing "...just to get these babies." he finished as he braced himself as best he could. "what is that?" Shepard said with a mild look of worry on her face.

James grinned "7.62 mm depleted uranium SABOT rounds" he said as his gun roared, sending a DU dart flying towards the destroyer just under the hypersonic barrier (Mach 5). The machines kinetic barriers were no match for a round that was made to punch through tank armour and the round passed seamlessly through it's chest. The shock wave followed and made the entire front of the destroyer's chest armour shatter and decimated the delicate circuitry of the geth platform. The recoil caused James to fall backwards into a sitting position "did I get him?" he said cringing in pain. "ill say, it looks like a krogan raped him" Shepard said. James grinned and Shepard returned it. "Commander we have defused the last bomb and secured the beacon." a voice crackled over Shepard earpiece.

James said "well gotta get moving, not gonna leave my first battle in the 22nd century on a gurney." he went to stand but a stab of pain shot through his leg and he dropped down onto his knee Shepard offered her hand and James accepted it gratefully he got his first good look at her and was stunned, her eyes were a bright, almost glowing blue, and she had black hair down to her shoulders. She had pale skin, really pale, like his was but his was because he had spent two years in a mental hospital because... Because... Damn don't think about it. He cringed as he limped down a ramp and he saw the beacon.

Suddenly he could see a vision, he saw the Protheans being slaughtered by... He wasn't sure what, wait the ship... Earlier... The husks... They killed them all. "you okay?" Shepard asked as James cringed "yeah, just in a bit of pain." he said. They arrived at the beacon and they marvelled at it. "this is amazing actual working Prothean technology" Kadian said looking at it. Shepard smiled then contacted the Normandy "Normandy we have secured the beacon, we are ready for extraction... Yes Grayson is safe but is wounded, tell Chakwas to prepare for a visitor... Jenkins and Nihlis..."

As Shepard continued to talk to the Normandy James looked over the colony. It was devastated , all that was left was ruins and cracked ground. He felt a pang of sadness as he looked over the devastation, thousands were dead in an act of genocide. Rage built in him as he was forced into another flashback.

Afghanistan 2006

Children crowded around them as the soldiers passed out candies to them. Smiles dotted the soldiers faces as the children laughed. "I love this part of the job" James said, a wide smile covering his face "yea it's the little things isn't it" a private said A small child ran up crying, saying something in the local language

"what's he saying Peters?" the Sargent asked "he's saying one of his friends fell down a well, it's very deep and there is no rope in the village. "well we have rope and we have manpower, cmon guys let's help that kid out, tell the boy that we will get him out."

The squad jogged to the well where sure enough a faint voice was heard from it "Grayson tie up your rope to that pipe, peters your going down there They tied the rope and peters went into the well. The radio crackled to life and peters said "this is some well, looks like it goes down about fifty feet, no sign of the kid ye... Hey I think I see him." there was the sound of peters speaking the local dialect. Then a cry of horror and peters franticly screaming "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST PULL ME UP! QUICK !" the squad heaved on the line and pulled peters out, the watching crowd recoiled in shock as his lower body came into view.

Blood spurted crimson drops everywhere from the stump of his leg which looked like it was savagely torn off. "MEDIC!" Grayson yelled as peters screamed in pain... (1)

Eden prime 2183

James fell to the ground sobbing as the memories of the events, not caring about his surroundings. Voices filled his head "Tet directive(2) has been approved, commencing arclight(3)", "arclight? There's still civies down here! Where the hell is our evac!" two voices rang out in his head He was paralysed on the ground, not aware of his surroundings, if he was he would of noticed two things, one the Normandy hovering overhead, and two, Shepard's unconscious body.

===4898===

im not going to hide it, there being attacked by the flood, and in this story the flood have been known of since 1968

The directive regarding the flood, basicly allows a local commander access to any and all resources to wipe the flood out

arclight is a carpet bombing run which can wipe a small town off the map

and that's my first chapter, ill just apologize right now for my spelling, it was written on my ipod no excuse just the truth

anyway untill next time... good day


	2. Biotics, Flashbacks, and Terra Nova

Hey thanks for the reviews and favourite and alerts and what not, also answering a question

Kane: how did James squad survive their first encounter with the Flood?

Frank: James did, the rest died, either via the flood or the carpet bombing

Anyway blah blah dont own mass effect or halo blah

===0===

Afghanistan 2006

Peters I need you to calm down, try and shut out the pain and tell me what happened!" the sergeant told the quivering youth "I-It was a-a m-monster, I swear it was. It looked exactly like a boy but when he turned... Oh god..." peters cried out. The sergeant sighed and put a reassuring hand on the 18 year old's shoulder.

"sergeant somethings coming up the well!" Grayson said as he cocked his rifle. "get the crowd away from the well!" the sergeant yelled as fear started to trickle through his veins. They formed a perimeter around the well, all of their rifles pointed at the well.

"peters what are we shooting at?" Grayson asked "peters!". The young man simply pointed to the well. Grayson slowly turned to see a small child getting out of the well. In an instant his rifles iron sights were lined up with the boy. A woman broke from the crown and ran to the child. The child pulled himself up revealing a yellow growth on his chest. T

he woman stopped and screamed as she was bisected by one of the child's arms, which were made of horrible mutated tentacles. the child roared in an inhuman gurgling noise, and the sergeant yelled "DUST THAT FUCKER".

SSV Normandy 2183

James awoke with a start. He looked around until he saw an ageing woman with grey shoulder length hair. "ah I see your awake." the woman said. "yeah... Where am I?" James asked "aboard the Normandy, sergeant, how are you feeling?" she asked "okay, just too much death for me to cope with. I had PTSD, And was in a mental hospital for 2 years, in am still on meds.

"yes I read your file, at least the parts I was authorized to read... Oh captain Anderson." she said as a dark skinned man wearing what looked to be a naval uniform walked in. "how's our guest holding up doctor? "well everything checks out, the only outstanding issue is his biotics, namely, how could he have gotten them a century before element zero was discovered.".

"hmm yes, is the sergeant up to talking." Anderson asked. "ask him yourself" the doctor said. In response to this, James sat up on the bed and said "what about?". Anderson nodded to the doctor and she left. "I'm sorry about what happened down there." Anderson said "this was supposed to be a clean pickup, in and out..." he continued "it never goes according to plan don't be sorry sir"

"true enough, I learned that the hard way myself" Anderson said "you wanted to speak with me?" James said as he stood up, testing his leg. "yes, i was wondering, just what happened in that cave in 2010?" Anderson asked.

"well We went into the cave because it wasn't on the GPS or maps, shortly after, I was wounded in the chest... They looked completely alien but they were robots or something. We met a strange man it there..." James looked right into Anderson's eyes and said "...he...it was Prothean.". "do you mean a holo or a video?" Anderson asked. "no he was alive, I shook his hand, he referred to himself as the avatar of memory.

When he shook my hand he transferred his knowledge to me, I can't access the knowledge, I don't even know what he gave me... But once I saw certain things on Eden prime, some of the knowledge was unlocked, it's like I knew already..." James explained. "...a living Prothean? On earth no less!" Anderson said, shocked "not anymore he killed himself before I fell in the stasis pod, saying "that is for you to find out... Avatar."" James said "the council will want to hear this when we get to the citadel." Anderson said, deep in thought "I'll need to be brought up to speed sir, I mean, aliens, faster than light travel, I've missed quite a bit." James said "yes of course, here, it's an omnitool, you'll find it has a codex that should give you all of the information you need, as well as access to the extranet." Anderson said, handing him a white box. He opened the box and found a clear glove, with a slight blue sheen in it. "thank you captain."

"one last thing, I know you have just recovered from your episode but, would you be interested in joining the systems alliance military?". "I'd rather not go through basic again, the first time was hard enough." James said smirking "if you join I will personally promote you to the rank of lieutenant, that is, as long as you want to join I won't force you." Anderson said "why the special treatment sir?" James asked.

"because I want you here on the Normandy, as the commander of our marine detachment." Anderson explained " I would figure Alenko or Shepard could serve that purpose" James said. "Alenko is inexperienced and is distracted by migraines, and Shepard is already my XO, she has her hands full as it is, besides, your a veteran, you've seen shit that, quite frankly, I couldn't stand to watch, not only that, you spat in the face of the NATO spooks when you survived that carpet bombing in Afghanistan, then rejoined two years later almost as if nothing had happened, your the best candidate for the job."

Anderson explained James paused to think then sighed and said "I'll accept sir." saluting sharply "here, take these" said Anderson smiling warmly, in his hand were dog tags. "thank you, sir!" James said as he went to leave the sickbay. " before you go... I'd just like to say... If you need to talk with someone, you know about the incident in 2006, Shepard is the one to talk to, she saw her parents killed in front of her right before slavers blinded and tortured her and left her to die on Mindoir. She also saw her unit die in front of her on Akuze, I'm still not authorized to know what attacked them but she was in a mental hospital for nearly three years. Just if you think it will help, she will be up in a few hours according to Dr Chakwas." Anderson finished "I'll think about it sir." James said as he left.

"hey, how are you feeling?" Kadian asked as he walked out of the sickbay. "could be better, to be honest." James said "i don't blame you, back when I was BAaT I saw too many breakdowns, I know yours was far worse but anyway Just thought I'd say that.". "bAat? What's that? James asked "just call it brain camp, we all did, it was a school for biotics." Kadian said "I see, what are biotic s anyway?" James asked. Kadian smirked, and said " follow me"

Andersen's pov

Anderson sat down at his desk in the captains quarters. He was in a bad mood, nilhis was dead, the beacon was destroyed and his XO was injured. He was about to pour some coffee when his private terminal blinked, indicating a secure communication. He tapped in his security code and a picture of admiral Hacket appeared

"captain, I hear Grayson signed up for service on the Normandy, are you sure he that was wise, he has some serious mental scars." Hacket said "every veteran does, you brought this up when we were selecting Shepard as our candidate for the spectres, and my position hasn't changed, sir" Anderson said back

"good because we have a major situation developing on Terra Nova." Hacket said "how bad?" Anderson quickly said "the Tet directive has been enacted, and the entire fifth fleet is en route" Hacket said "I'm not familiar with that admiral" Anderson said

"first contact is generally thought to have occurred in 2157 with the turians, that isn't true, in 1968 we came in contact with what we call "the flood". They are a race of parasitic life forms that, through means we do not know, change their hosts body into a variety of forms ranging from combat to incubation of the infection forms, we consider them the most dangerous foes we have ever faced amplified by the fact that they are sentient." Hacket explained "why was I never informed if this?" Anderson asked "information about this is all on a strictly need to know basis, until today, you didn't need to know.".

"I see, is that what happened on Akuze." Anderson asked "yes." was Hacket's answer. "I see... I assume you want us to change course to link up with the fleet?" Anderson asked "no I want you to tell the council, Terra Nova is too important to lose, and we need all of the help we can get to save it, even if all they send is one frigate, or a squad of troops, we need it.".

"I see, no promises admiral but I'll try my best." Anderson said "I hope so, because the flood can use our weapons, if they learn to use our ships... We may never stop them.". Hacket said just before he cut the comm

"joker! How long until we get to the citadel?" he said into a comm panel "about two hours captain." a voice said over the comm. "good keep me updated" Anderson said.

Meanwhile, in the cargo hold

"OK, the point behind the implants is to amplify and focus the element zero in your body so the power of whatever your doing is increased, yea your not getting those, because... Well you punched the head off a geth destroyer, which is something even Me with L2 implants can't do." Kadian said as he demonstrated his powers, using them to toss a crate around. "

"so how do I use it?" James asked "at first you gotta find it, usually it happens when emotions are high, that's what happened with you down on Eden prime, now try to mimic that feeling." Kadian said as he let the crate down. James closed his eyes and brought himself back to Eden prime, the destroyer, the barrel of a gun in his face. It wasn't working but then again he didn't expect it to develop overnight, so he sat down and searched. There was only one way he was getting that feeling of imminent doom, only one time where forcing himself into a flashback.

Afghanistan 2006

Bullets ripped into the child as orange blood splattered everywhere and the creature slumped forward. "Johnson move up and make sure that thing is dead." the Sargent ordered, then he turned to Grayson "what the fuck was that thing?" Grayson shook his head and said "I don't know, there isn't anything I've seen like that, to a child no less." "we've gotta report this now, from what I se-" a wizz flew passed Grayson's ear and the sergeants head exploded in a mess of blood and skull fragments.

Grayson rolled behind some cover as he franticly reloaded his rifle He peeked out and he saw Johnson with a smoking rifle in hand, there was some sort of yellow pulsating bag dug into his chest, spreading yellow corruption throughout his body. Johnson's head fell back, unneeded and the creature made a deep guttural roar.

The five other soldiers left all fired at it to bring it down when they saw a swarm of the yellow pulsating bags leap from the well right at the crowd of people who were now trying to run. "Fall back, we need to get the fuck out of here!" Grayson yelled, assuming command of the squad. Screams of pain and terror echoed through the streets of the village as the infection spread as the soldiers could do nothing but defend themselves. "get the radio!" Grayson yelled to one of the soldiers, who nodded and ran to grab it. "this is blue five, were under attack by... An unknown enemy! We need immediate support!" Grayson yelled into the radio set that was handed to him, unaware that command was already aware of the situation.

SSV Normandy 2183

James eyes snapped open, a pure biotic blue,he roared and sent a massive biotic pulse flying out of his hands, right into the crate, sending it slamming into the bay door, crushing the empty crate. "holy shit!" alenko yelled as James was covered by a blue aura panting in exertion. "well I'm not going to ask how in the name of god you managed a push that big but hell if I were to gauge that I'd say you could give an asari matriarch a run for her money." Kadian said looking at the crate.

"could of warned me before you made that crate your bitch." ash said as she continued to work on the weapons set out before her. "oh yeah, the weapon techs got a hold of your guns, I think you'll like what they've done with them." ash said "okay let's see them" James said.

A man carrying two cases walked up and said "alright LT here's what we got, first we'll start off with the C-6. "we changed out you ACOG with something that can see in all spectrums, and packed in a special ammo plug in so you can change ammo types quickly, we also gave you the standard ammo block system that guns use now, which means you don't really have to reload, just watch the heat. Now me and the guys thought this would be a nice addition if we added this, he said pointing to a module on the bolt. "what is that" James said as he looked at the device "it's a coil for a micro coil gun, it'll launch the projectile at Mach fourteen, and hit with the force of a satchel charge. Just watch when you use it, it'll cause the gun to over heat." the man stopped to take a breath as James looked at the gun though the sights.

"alright now for the good shit, your M-14 was beaten up by the time we got it, looked like someone dragged the inside of the barrel though sand paper." the tech said "well i need to change the barrel every time i shoot one of the SABOT rounds. James replied "well the quartermaster got his hands on some rare hardware." the tech said as he held up what looked like a dart "do you know what this?" he said. James cocked an eyebrow and the tech said "sorry, this is a prototype APAA-154, it creates random mass effect fields to rip through shields and positively charged eezo to make it go through damn near anything, its basicly like a disruptor torpedo just in bullet form, well we desired to implement this into your rifle, if you fire this it will kill it, no matter what., and because due to its relatively low velocity, we dusted this off, a laser designator, you can paint targets and send a round down range and as long as you aim reasonably close to the target, it'll hit the laser." the tech said, smiling as he saw James' features light up "draw backs?" James asked, half hoping there was none. "yea, these rounds are really expensive... like nine thousand creds a pop so use them sparingly" "i see." James said

all of a sudden their omni tools beeped and Dr Chakwas voice sounded out throughout the cargo hold. "the commanders brain activity has spiked and she may be waking up you might want to come up here." the transmission ended. " shall we?" James said and the others nodded.

Moments later

"doc... doctor Chakwas, shes waking up!" James said as Shepard groaned "you had us worried commander, how are you feeling?". Dr. Chakwas said "like the morning after shore leave, what happened" she said groggily. "from what i hear the beacon exploded while you were standing right in front of it, and to think that i thought my Xbox giving me the red ring of death was bad." James said smirking at his own joke.

"yeah but in all honesty i should of been more on guard for that sort of thing, after all it is tech that quite frankly, we have no idea does." Shepard said. "hey don't blame yourself, how the hell were you supposed to know, not to mention your little worse for the wear." James said shrugging his shoulders. "yes i agree, physically your fine, although i did pick up abnormally high amounts of rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with dreaming." Dr Chakwas said. "i was dreaming, i saw synthetics, geth maybe, slaughtering people, just butchering them." Shepard said . "come to think of it i had a similar dream, once i saw the beacon... synthetics butchering people then it was gone" James added. "i better add this to my report... oh hello again captain Anderson.

"Hows our XO holding up doctor?". Anderson said " as we were just saying, shes fine physically but she was having intense dreams.". "what about?" Anderson asked turning to Shepard.. "i saw machines killing these people, just decimating them." Shepard said "we need to tell the council about this ." Anderson said " what are we going to tell them? That she had a bad dream?" James said crossing his arms. "i don't know but ill stand by you and your reports, your both heroes in my books." Anderson said "now i need to speak to you both, in private..." Anderson said

SSV Everest

in high orbit over Terra Nova

"sir we don't even know if they can do the job, they've never been tested!" a man said "i don't care, there the only ones who can reinforce quickly enough and there presence itself would be a massive morale boost for our troops, and when fighting an enemy like the flood morale is everything" Hacket said "but..." the man started " no buts! The flood have already taken thirteen percent of the planet. We cannot afford the loss of any more ground, no you tell the office of naval intelligence to pull there head out of there ass or i will come down there with a squad of marines and force you."Hacket nearly yelled "besideds its not your choice, the tet directive has been inacted and i am demanding the, orbital drop shock troops be deployed, experimental or not!"Hacket demanded. "very well I'll make the call to ONI, tell them to pull the company together." the ONI agent said. "wait, you have only one company."Hacket said distraught "of course, if they preform to expectations, a company is all we need"

SSV Normandy

en route to the citadel

What I'm about to tell you is top secret, only admirals, and those who it concerns know about this, Terra Nova has come under attack by the flood." Anderson said to his two officers "sir, I'm not familiar with the flood.". Shepard said "actually yes... both of you are, in 1968 during the Vietnam war, artifacts were found that were from an unknown race of beings. What ever the relic was has been lost to history but it was made of some super dense alloy of metals. When we were excavating we opened up a new area and the flood escaped. What followed is better known as the Tet offensive, because it coincided with the Vietnamese new year. We barely made it out of that one and lost around one hundred thousand people... then in 2006 they attacked a village in Afghanistan" Anderson said turning to Grayson "so you know then..." James said grinding his teeth. "yes i do." Anderson said "oh well..." James said.

"Then they attacked a prospecting colony on Akuze in 2177... it was bad, we sent 50 marines and only one lived, Shepard. Was that marine, that's why i chose her for the N7 special operations regiment. What she has survived though... what both of you have survived, is amazing, I've seen the satiable feed from both of those battles and let me tell you, it was some of the most amazing, heroic crap I've ever seen, too bad NATO Intel... later known as the office of naval intelligence were too stuck on keeping the existence of the flood a secret or you two would been more decorated then me." Anderson went on to explain

"Thank you sir" Shepard and Grayson both said simultaneously. "now I'm not here just to pump your tires, we are going to the citadel to inform them of what happened on Eden Prime, if its true that Saren has gone rogue, then he could have something to do with the crisis on Terra Nova, the attacks are too close together, and the targets are too important." Anderson said. "what kind of planet is Terra Nova?" James asked "its the most populated colony that we have, its also one of the biggest suppliers of platinum, which we use to line starship engines." Anderson said "shit... that's... how many people?" James asked "four million." Anderson said "Sir i understand we cant just destroy the planet, but cant we evacuate the people so the flood have no one to infect? James said

"We cant risk it, if even one infection form gets on a ship, then we will have a crisis the alliance has never seen before, it just cant be done." Anderson said shaking his head "so its total war against them then, have the restrictions on orbital bombardment been revoked." Shepard asked "they have." Anderson said. "we are two hours out from the citadel, and i want you two to work on what your going to say to the council, dismissed." Anderson said as he walked out of the room. "so shall we." James said to Shepard. "yea lets start working on it" Shepard said "fun fun..." James said rolling his eyes

====3657====

yep that's chapter 2, Im thinking about how i can get this into the halo time period but the mass effect universe basicly requires Shepard to be there or Bam everyone's screwed, so I'm open to ideas and the constructive criticism always helps. So read, review and I'm going to start ch3

good day


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